


Please, stop.

by RaaorQtpbpdy



Category: 3Below, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Aja puts hers up, Gen, I just can’t understand how people have their hair down all the time, Idek what this is so how am I supposed to tag this, and not even in a cute way, how is it not in your face all the time, please krel just put up your hair, this is not how tags are meant to be used, this is so self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 22:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17713043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaaorQtpbpdy/pseuds/RaaorQtpbpdy
Summary: How does anyone stand having their hair down all the time, especially when it’s at that length where it’s just barely too short to push behind your shoulders and too long to be sufficiently held by your ears? How does Krel focus?





	Please, stop.

Krel pushed his thick brown hair behind his ears for about the seven thousandth time in that past twenty minutes. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, how could that kid stand it? 

Erie had much longer hair than him, true, but she always had it held back in some style or another to keep it out of her face while she worked. Krel did not. She was trying to focus on writing her half of the PowerPoint for the project they’d been paired up on, but when his hair fell back into his face again, and he pushed it back once more with a quiet sigh, she just couldnt take it anymore. 

“Please, stop,” she said. 

“What do you mean?” Krel asked, looking up at her for the first time in about half an hour. 

“Your hair! Why don’t you just put it up or something so you don’t have to keep pushing it out of your face every two seconds!” 

“I don’t understand. ‘Put it up’?” He lifted his hair with his hands. 

“Your sister keeps her hair up in a bun; don’t you know how to put your hair up?” 

“I don’t even know what that means.” 

“How do you... nevermind, just let me do it.” Erie pulled a black hair tie off of her wrist and used it to tie Krel’s hair back into a neat ponytail. “Hair. Up. Out of the way. Better?” 

“Much better!” Krel reached back and pulled out the hair tie to examine it.

“Dude,” Erie complained  

“I like this device, how does it work?” 

“It’s a hair tie, it’s literally just a rubber band that has nylon over it so it won’t rip up your hair. You have a sister. How do you not know how a hair tie works?” Erie took the elastic and demonstrated how to wrap it with her fingers. “Just like that, but on your hair. You scoop it all up, put the hair tie in and wrap it a couple of times.” 

“May I try?” Erie handed Krel the hair tie again, looking utterly dumbstruck. After a couple of tries he managed to get his hair into a sloppy ponytail. 

“You’ll get better at it with practice,” Erie assured. “Can you stop fidgeting with it so we can finish our project now?” 

“Yes, this ‘hair tie’ will make it much easier.” 

“You can go ahead an keep that one, I’ve got plenty others.” 

“Thank you,” Krel said, obviously very happy as he turned back to the laptop he was working on. 

“You’re kinda weird, you know that?” 

“Yes I’m aware. I understand it makes people uncomfortable and they do not like me much.” 

“I like you fine. Weird people are more interesting, anyway.” 

Krel grinned and he felt something inside him swell at Erie’s casual compliment. He so rarely got them and it was nice. 

—

That weekend, while working on homework or other projects with one pair of hands, Krel practiced this ‘ponytail’ with the other pair. He did not know why it was called a ponytail since it was made of human hair, not the tail of a small horse, but he had accepted the human tendency toward names that don’t really make sense. 

By Monday morning, Krel had gotten pretty good at ponytailing. He would have to thank Erie again for teaching him. He put his hair up in an already familiar ponytail on his way down to breakfast. 

“I like the new hairstyle, Krel,” his sister, Aja, remarked. “It is lively!” 

“It is much more practical too. Less distracting than having it ‘down.’” He smiled, proud of himself for picking up another bit of earth lingo. 

People at school didn’t seem to notice the change, but they mostly ignored him anyway, so Krel assumed that was why. Seamus noticed. He didn’t say anything, but his wide-eyed, glazed-over stare when Krel said hello to him in the hallway was a pretty good indicator. 

“Look at you, already a ponytail master,” Erie said with a smirk when they got to History class. 

“Thanks for teaching me. It is much more convenient this way.” 

“Tell me about it. I hardly ever have my hair down, but I keep it long because it’s fun to style when I get bored.” 

“Style?” 

“Yeah, you know, style. Put it up in different ways, like braids, buns, twists, ribbons.” 

“There’s more than one way?” 

“Well... yeah...” 

“Will you teach me?” 

“I mean, sure but class is about to start.” 

“Later then.” 

“Uh... I guess? You know what? Why not? It sounds like fun,” Erie gave in with a bewildered smile. “I’ll catch you at lunch. But for now, should we go over our PowerPoint one more time?”

”Alright.” 

—

At lunch, Erie tried to teach him how to braid. He was quite adept at the weaving part when he tried with a ribbon, a charger cable, and a piece of string that Erie had in her backpack, but hair was slippery and more difficult to keep taut. 

Hair styling lessons turned to conversations about other topics, help with chemistry homework, debates about their favorite bands, and music recommendations, and eventually the two became good friends. 

Even though he had never really thought of friends as a necessity, Krel had to admit he liked having one who could keep up with him for the most part. Plus Erie helped him understand earth customs without judging him or asking too many questions, which he appreciated immensely. 

All in all he thought ponytails were very very good inventions. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is self indulgent in the worst way, literally I just want this boy in a ponytail or something.


End file.
